THE COMMISSION MODEL IN POLAND:
SPOŁECZNĄ AKADEMIĘ NAUK (SAN), ŁÓDŹ
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THE "BON" COMMISSION
THE COMMISSION
Students at the University of Technology in Lodz, were commissioned by BON, the department which offers support to individuals who encounter challenges in their studies, due to their disabilities, illnesses or other difficulties. The university - like other universities - faces issues in attracting and retaining students with special needs. Staff at BON would also like to increase awareness among students and staff about the services that they can offer.
TASKS
The team reviewed the current marketing tools and webpage used by BON, and made recommendations for possible changes, and new initiatives that could help to raise awareness.
They also researched what other universities offer in terms of student support.
DRAMA EPISODES
The team worked with partners on the Erasmus Plus project. They were invited to think of themselves as a support service in a university; they made decisions about how they would make their offices feel welcoming.
They encountered teachers in role as parents/guardians of young people who were worried about their children coming to university. Could they assuage their concerns? The video is a record of the session.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
The team consisted of international students who had recently arrived in Poland. The project helped in team-building, and gave them some understanding of the complexities and sensitivities involved in responding to commissions. We hoped they might also realise the importance, in commissions like this, of designing with, rather than designing for people; learning from them rather than trying to "fix" their "problems" or "needs."
PUBLICATION
The team presented their findings to the staff at BON, sharing their first thoughts and suggestions, rather than trying to offer "solutions."
In the first video, filmed at the University of Łódź, David Allen introduces the Commission Model and explains the thinking behind it.
In the next video, members of the Erasmus Plus project on the Commission Model discuss some of the differences between the Commission Model, and "business" oriented programmes like Capstone projects.
COMPARISON OF THE COMMISSION MODEL
AND "CAPSTONE" PROJECTS
THE COMMISSION
Students at SAN were undertaking Capstone projects in teams, such as:
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Moose, Italy: increase e-commerce and build the company brand image
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Proctor and Gamble: Reduce the hiring period (case study)
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Oer-Lemans Foods Siemiatycze: Logistic process automation of the manufacturing process
A "Capstone" project is an investigative “commission” that culminates in a final project “deliverable” and presentation. Teams were asked to analyse the approaches they were planning to take in solving the problem, and compare this work with the Commission Model approach.
AGE GROUP: 25-40
TASKS
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Organize the project team, analyse the problem situation and take up roles required in the specific situation to execute the project.
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Start and maintain contact with the company that commissioned the project team in order to identify audiences/stakeholders who are negatively impacted by the company problem; plan and conduct qualitative and quantitative research (observations, interviews, surveys) as well as develop potential solutions, while taking into consideration stakeholders impacted by the problem.
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Choose the most appropriate techniques from approaches that they have learned about (including Commission Model) to conduct the problem-solving process.
DRAMA EPISODES
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Role playing, storytelling, designing scenarios for the process and solution development.
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Acting the assumed roles in a real-life situation in front of the jury, the company and other invited stakeholders.
As part of their Capstone project, one group created a “persona” and an associated “empathy map,” to help them to understand the pain points, hopes and fears of security employees - the most impacted stakeholder in the project. The process of "persona" development takes place through empathetic research and is completed with a creation of a character who is portrayed in a dramatic way: possesses specific "personality", lives in a specific context, takes up characteristic behaviours etc. Storyboards help the team to understand the process, the problem situation and the solution situation are often presented in the form of a story in the final PPT presentation.
CURRICULUM LEARNING included how to
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analyse the problem situation
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research the problem
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identify the stakeholders impacted by the problem and empathetically understand their needs, desires, pains and gains (cognitive and emotive aspects considered)
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create a solution with a human-centred approach
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reflect on their own learning process / awakening the “self-spectator”: What have we been learning? How have we been working together?
THE PUBLICATION
Each group
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produced its own report, identifying some commonalities between Capstone and the Commission Model (researching the needs of the client; working through tasks, etc.)
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wrote a short comparison of typical Project Management techniques and the Commission Model. One included a chart of the differences between the two systems as they saw them.
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ERASMUS PLUS 2019-22